BOULDER, CO (June 28, 2009)--Zahkai Brown (pictured) can relate to Tiger Woods’ motivational practice of making a list of Jack Nicklaus’ golf feats and then doing his best to surpass each one.

Brown, 18, does something similar with his older brother, Zen, who’s turning pro this summer.

“I try to accomplish what he has, and then do a little better,” Zahkai said.

Well, Zahkai checked another item off his list on Sunday at Flatirons Golf Course by winning the CGA Public Links Championship, something Zen did four years ago.

Zahkai, from Indian Tree Golf Course, surged to the title Sunday after trailing Colorado State University teammate Riley Arp by two strokes with three holes remaining. Birdies by Brown on holes 16 and 18, and a three-putt bogey by Arp on 17 gave Brown a one-shot victory.

“This feels great,” Brown said after capturing his first CGA championship. “I told my dad (Orin, who was caddying for Zahkai) on No. 16 that I was going to play aggressive and make a charge. I was real excited when it happened. That’s why I yelled for joy” after sinking the winning 10-foot birdie putt on No. 18.

The 2007 Class 5A state high school champion led after all three rounds at Flatirons. He matched Arp’s final-round 68 for an 8-under-par 202 total.

Dean Clapp from Meadow Hills Golf Course and Keenan Holt from Hillcrest Golf Club tied for third place at 207. Holt on Sunday posted the second-best tournament score in the history of Flatirons Golf Course, a bogey-free 7-under-par 63. Only Matt Call’s 62 in the 2005 Colorado PGA Pro-Junior is better.

Sunday’s win capped a big week for Brown, who on Tuesday qualified for his second USGA championship, the U.S. Amateur Publinks.

“I’m feeling very confident with my game,” said Brown, the 2009 Freshman of the Year in the Mountain West Conference. “My wedge game is really coming around.”

That showed on the last three holes Sunday. After Arp had made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, earning a two-shot lead, Brown dialed in his wedge approach shots down the stretch.

On the tough par-4 16th hole, he carved a wedge shot around a large tree to within 5 feet of the flag and sank the birdie putt. On the par-4 17th, Brown nearly sucked the ball back into the cup for eagle, but missed a 14-foot birdie attempt. And on the par-4 18th, Brown stuck his approach 10 feet away from the flag and made the tournament winner.

Arp, who had been fighting his driver much of the day, smacked one 365 yards straight down the middle on 18, but failed to convert a 25-foot birdie putt.

“It’s real disappointing,” said Arp, a senior-to-be at CSU who plays out of Collindale Golf Course. “I told myself (with three holes left) to make him beat me, and he made two birdies coming in.”

Brown led the tournament by five strokes after three holes on Sunday, but that advantage was all erased by the end of the eighth hole. Two Brown bogeys, followed by Arp making a 50-foot eagle on No. 7 and a birdie on 8 evened things up. And Arp gained the lead when Brown barely got out of a bunker on No. 12 and needed to make an 8-foot putt for bogey.

Arp kept the damage caused by errant drives to a minimum, but still thought that those tee shots might have cost him the title.

“I didn’t come off the tee half as well as I did the first two days,” said the 21-year-old, who last year advanced to the second round of the U.S. Publinks. “If I do that better, it might have been a different day.”

Brown and Arp were both dressed in CSU shirts on Sunday, but Brown took considerable pleasure in beating his teammate for the title.

“Riley tends to rub it in your face if he beats you,” Brown said. “I definitely didn’t want that. So to win against him is special.”